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Petrolati drops key position

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

By DAN RING

dring@repub.com

BOSTON - Rep. Thomas M. Petrolati on Tuesday "mutually
agreed" to relinquish his No. 3 leadership position as
speaker pro tempore in the state House of Representatives
following a stinging report that outlined his role in a
patronage hiring scandal in the state's Probation
Department.

Saying he is saddened and upset by an independent
counsel's findings on probation, House Speaker Robert
A. DeLeo, D-Winthrop, issued a statement that suggests
Petrolati, a Ludlow Democrat, may go back to being a back
bencher at the Statehouse after six years as speaker pro
tempore. DeLeo did not rule out appointing Petrolati to
another leadership post.

"After considerable thought and discussion with
Representative Petrolati, we have mutually agreed it would
be in the best interests of the House of Representatives
that he not seek re-appointment to the post of Speaker Pro
Tempore when the House reconvenes in January," DeLeo
said in the statement.

Petrolati, who cited the Fifth Amendment and refused to
answer questions from an independent counsel, has declined
comment on the probation investigation. An aide on Tuesday
did not respond to a phone call or an e-mail seeking
Petrolati's comment on his loss of the leadership post,
which pays $15,000-a-year bonus atop the regular
legislator's salary of $61,440.

As speaker pro tempore, Petrolati has been the
speaker's alter ego, leading formal sessions in the
House, representing the speaker at some events and acting as
liaison between the speaker and members when crafting and
advancing legislation.

Petrolati, a 24-year legislator, was frequently mentioned
in a report issued on Thursday by lawyer Paul F. Ware, of
Boston, an independent lawyer appointed by the state Supreme
Judicial Court to investigate hiring in probation.

Ware's report concluded that the hiring and promotion process in probation was fraudulent and rigged because the probation commissioner almost always hired candidates anointed by Petrolati or other former and current legislators....